COVID-19 infrastructure: None of us are safe if health care workers aren't

Health professionals are reusing masks for several days that are meant to be discarded after one use. They're taking to social media, pleading for homemade supplies, even wearing garbage bags in place of protective gowns. These are by no means isolated incidents.

How can we provide the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect all healthcare workers now? And how do we build the reliable supply chain needed to safely implement comprehensive testing infrastructure that will stem future outbreaks and bring us out of this crisis?

We'll explore these questions and more in a virtual panel hosted by U.S. PIRG, Doctors for America, and Get Us PPE. Health experts, physicians, and elected officials will discuss the challenges in obtaining personal protective equipment, the need for comprehensive testing infrastructure, and solutions to address supply chain issues, including a lack of coordination. Join us on Facebook live this Friday, May 8th 1:30-2:30pm EDT.

Moderator:

• Matthew Wellington, U.S. PIRG's Public Health Campaigns Director

Panelists:

• U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, member of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
• Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS, MA, attending physician in the Brigham and Women's Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine in the Health Policy Division and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School.
• Julie Parsonnet MD, a member of the National Academy of Medicine, is a professor of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology at Stanford.
• Joe Kanter, MD MPH, Assistant State Health Officer at Louisiana Department of Health.